


Miles Away

by AdelaResonaro



Category: Firestarter - Stephen King
Genre: Character Study, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:29:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26471161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AdelaResonaro/pseuds/AdelaResonaro
Summary: A vast space, where one can only watch but not interact - such is the fate Vicky Tomlinson is forced to endure.
Relationships: Vicky Tomlinson/Andy McGee





	Miles Away

**Miles Away**

_Ficlet based on Stephen King's Firestarter_

Death was a constant thought when Vicky Tomlinson was alive.

Perhaps a comfy room, alone or accompanied, but Vicky never spared much thought to the more gruesome versions – bloodloss, drowning, starvation… they put her on edge, and she quickly thought of something else, refusing to go down that particular line of thought…

But as fate would have it, years later, she would lay awake dismissing the idea of a peaceful departure. Thoughts of burning flesh, hellish screams and smoke were all she could think of. All she could dream of. It seemed inevitable.

Vicky wasn't normal, hadn't been ever since the Lot Six experiment, where she had met Andy, her future husband. Both had taken place in the experiment, because of the reward – two hundred dollars. They hadn't known what they were getting themselves into.

Andy, sweet, well-meaning Andy, was suddenly able to push people around – not physically, but mentally. He would murmur suggestions or orders, and the people would nod and follow, no matter how ridiculous the request was. Vicky, for her part, had developed some low-level telekinesis – close doors only with a quick look, turn off the TV or radio, that sort of thing. She never tried to see if she could do more. She probably couldn't, anyway.

Then, they had had a daughter. It had been difficult because she was afraid – not of Andy himself, but of distant echoes of rough hands, a booming voice… Andy had been patient, stopping when she told him to, smiling and asking her if she wanted coffee or water as if nothing was wrong. And Vicky loved him all the more for it.

Charlie had brought light into their lives – more literally than figuratively. She could make fires. Andy had called it pyrokinesis. And since then Vicky lived afraid. She loved her daughter, she did, with all her heart, but she was afraid. And she hated herself for it.

All those tales of mothers who had saved their children from a gruesome death, of mothers who had been able to lift a car in desperation or who readily accepted a bullet or knife wound for their child, they made her sick with guilt and regret, because when the moment came, she hadn't been able to protect her child. She had been weak. Those men, the men that had surveilled them ever since the experiment, made their move when Charlie was away in a three-day sleepover with her best friend. They thought Vicky and Andy knew they were being watched, and for that reason hid her. Gosh, how she wished that was the truth…

They undoubtedly wanted her because of her ability, since it was something never seen before. She was more powerful than Andy and Vicky, probably more powerful than all the people who had participated in the Lot Six experiment combined. She didn't get tired when she used her ability. The possibility of losing such a… such a _prize_ terrorized those men, from an organization known as The Shop.

So, they tied her up and tortured her, and no sooner had they begun that Vicky broke. Sent one of them flying without realizing, quickly overcome with a piercing pain. And then she had talked. Had been eliminated. She had done what no respectful parent would have ever done.

And now, here she stands, bitterly watching a world she could not interact with any longer. Forced to watch from the sidelines how her husband and daughter are hunted like animals. Watching with _desperation_ so many close calls…

Around her, many people stare down into an abyss coloured in white. People saw different things in there – Vicky was watching Andy drive to his grandfather's cottage on Tashmore Pond, after Charlie's most recent show of power… a show that had killed many men, cremated a bunch of chickens and lighted up a barn.

She took a deep breath, mostly out of habit than actual need, remembering the incident – the barn owners, the Manders, had been kind enough to ignore the destruction and lend them their car, so they could escape. They were so _kind_ … may God bless them with more time…

She would hate seeing them there, even if it meant thanking them personally.

However, there is someone she _did_ hate having to see… and he wouldn't _leave_ …

"I'm sorry." He offers again, staring into the abyss just like she was doing. They are seeing the same thing only because they want too. If Vicky could, however, she would block his gaze for all of eternity.

"Save your apologies." She finally says, lifting her gaze from the abyss so she could look at him in the eyes – he had chosen to appear as a younger version of himself, a version Vicky was dreadfully familiar with. For him was Dr. Wanless, once in charge of the Lot Six experiment. "I don't want you here."

"To be honest, neither do I. I want to move on, Victoria, I do not wish to see how the story ends. I want no part in it." He closes his eyes. "But, no matter how much I wish, I _am_ part of it."

"A very big part, indeed." She said. "If it wasn't for you…"

"I want you to move on, Victoria." He interrupts, staring into her eyes. "There is nothing left for us to do. We played our part. The only players left are…"

Andy and Charlie are still in the car. They aren't being followed, as far as Vicky knows. She can't actually check because she doesn't know where the Shop men or the headquarters are. Wanless knows because he had talked about a certain Cap earlier. Vicky won't ask him, though. She isn't sure she wants to know, because she wouldn't be able to do anything with that knowledge. Only watch helplessly.

She prefers to sit in ignorance. She prefers to hope she won't see either of them here, with her, for a very long time.

"I warned him." Continues Wanless, aware that Vicky isn't really listening to him. "I did, and he sent someone to kill me."

"He did well."

Wanless purses his lips, probably biting back the fact that this Cap had probably authorized her death as well.

"It's my fault." He says instead. "If I hadn't theorized too much… tried so much… none of this would have happened. It's my fault. It's not yours for pursuing something with Andrew, or for taking part in the experiment. It's… it's not even Charlene's fault. She is only a child. A child that can light fires and kill men in the blink of an eye." He lets his gaze fall back into the abyss, pained. "I did the experiment. I did the math. I made the drug. I… placed that reward. And now, there she walks. Charlene McGee, whose parents had once needed two hundred dollars."


End file.
